NIN Launches App To Provide Nutritional Advice For Indians

Hyderabad: Nutritionists from National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, have come up with India's first ever mobile application which plays the role of a personal dietician with India-specific data of nutritive value of all kinds of foods. The pan-India app, named "Nutrify India Now", provides nutritional information about foods in 17 different Indian languages, has been developed in association with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) over a span of one year.

Nutrify India Now prescribes specific Indian nutritive guidelines, authentic and well-researched India-specific databases and Indian foods and recipes. The app is unique in nature, given its India-specific approach to nutritional advice.

The app asks for the user's Body Mass Index (BMI), Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), age, gender, height, weight and physical activity levels, before guiding him/her.

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Dr R Hemalatha, Director of the ICMR-NIN said that the app is their attempt to reach out to the public and provide authentic information. "It’s a way to make people use important data generated by NIN, in order to facilitate a personal nutritional adviser to users, she said.

Tracing the app development, NIN formed a committee, apart from holding consultative workshops with stakeholders, including housewives, general public, top nutritionists and doctors to get an idea about the relevant information the app should have, Dr G M Subba Rao, senior scientist, NIN, said. The app helps users keep track of their energy balance and store their nutritional intake for a week, he added.